“Dude, you know the movie 'Foxcatcher'?”
“Yeah, I know Foxcatcher. We saw it yesterday.”
“OK, you know how there weren”t any real foxes in it?”
“Yeah, Steve Carell”s farm was called 'Foxcatcher.'”
“Right, but what if there were?”
“What if there were what?”
“What if there were foxes.”
“What if Foxcatcher had foxes in it?”
“Yeah, or… if Foxcatcher were about foxes.”
“'Foxcatcher' starring foxes?”
“And a foxcatcher.”
“That”s stu-…get me to the Internet.”
And that, friends, is how YouTube comedy videos are born.
In a precisely concocted parody of Bennett Miller”s “Foxcatcher,” YouTube user Jonathan Hartwig splices the drama”s trailer audio into the nimble antics of Wes Anderson”s 2009 stop-motion animated film “Fantastic Mr. Fox” and comes out with an entertaining hybrid.
A pun is only the beginning of “Fantastic Mr. Foxcatcher,” a slow burn psychological drama that grapples with wealth, ambition, and stealing squab. Badger (Carrel) wants to start the greatest Whack-bat team in the country. Mr. Fox (Channing Tatum) wants to be the best Whack-batter in the world. When the two come together… terror.
“Foxcatcher” arrived in six theaters last week to a strong weekend box office of $288,000. That number should continue to grow as the Oscars draw closer and Sony Pictures Classics expands the picture. Whether it winds up with nominations with tough surrounding competition is another story. Combined with “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” it already has two: In 2010, Wes Anderson earned a Best Animated Feature nom for the film, while his composer Alexandre Desplat picked up one for Best Original Score. Maybe rebranding “Foxcatcher” as a Roald Dahl animated film can only help its chances.
Watch the video below: